Firework Nails!

I don't really tend to do a lot of nail art, mainly because I'm not the most delicate of touch so quite often it looks like I let my three-year-old nephew do my nails. But I do like the easier options, such as a specialist top coat, so as it was Bonfire Night on Tuesday and I went to a friend's party for Blackheath fireworks at the weekend I thought I'd give firework nails a go!

This is an idea I got from my friend T a few years ago, so before I go any further I just want to say thanks to her for the inspiration :) I'll show you the look I did in stages so you can get an idea of howI got there. Apologies for the mess, I tend to only tidy up when the nails are finished so I'm aware it's not exactly the prettiest of manicures in these pictures!

I started off with the navy polish - this is Barry M Navy, which I actually really like as a stand-alone shade, but you could use any navy or dark blue polish you have. It would look really good with black as well, I think I might try that if I do this again. This is two coats on top of my usual base coat, Revlon Post Trauma, and I have to say I'm very impressed with the opacity on this one.

And then the gemstone topcoat. T's original version of this look used Gosh Rainbow, which launched the craze for these kind of shimmery gemstone topcoats, but sadly you can't get it any more. So for this one I used Andrea Fulerton's Gemstone Overcoat, which still took me ages to get - I remember checking in every Superdrug I went to for months to find it! I did one coat of this over the blue. It actually works better if you do a thinner coat because the patches look more like fireworks exploding.

To finish, I did a matte topcoat - I like Rimmel's version as it's got
the most perfectly-shaped brush out of all the nail polishes I own and
fits the nail so you can go over it in one sweep. But again you can use any matte topcoat you want, or even a regular topcoat if you'd prefer shiny nails.

And there you have it - firework nails! I love how the colours change depending how the light hits them, from coppery to sea green and back again. Plus it got me lots of compliments at the party and at work earlier this week :) Durability was good too - I did them on Saturday morning and the first tip wear appeared on Tuesday morning (after three days of heavy typing), with the first tiny chips on Wednesday. Definitely a look I'd like to try again some time.

What do you think of this look? Have you tried any gemstone overcoats? And did you do your nails in a particular way for Bonfire Night or Halloween? Let me know in the comments and have a great day!